First Words
by Mischel
Summary: Aithusa's very excited when she learns her first words, but it only causes problems when she follows Merlin back to Camelot to share her talents with him. Especially when she won't stop flying and shouting new words - and when Arthur happens to witness all of it. - Merthur; writtten for Pod Together 2019; podfic by brokenfannibal available


New Merlin fanfic! This one was written for the Pod Together challenge 2019. If you're not familiar with that, it's a podfic challenge that includes many more fandoms than just Merlin, and people write fics and make podfics in groups. I teamed up with brokenfannibal and together we produced one fanfic and one podfic to go together with it. You can read the fanfic here, on ao3 and wattpad, and the podfic is available on ao3 (the story and podfic are posted together as one story) - link below. I hope you'll enjoy the story, and please do listen to the podfic! You'll hear Aithusa talk and it's adorable! :)

You can listen to the podfic here: _archiveofourown DOT ORG /works/19901533_

Disclaimer: We don't own Merlin.

**FIRST WORDS**

**...**

Arthur shielded his eyes as he looked over his city from one of the windows, stopping there to appreciate the view on the way back to his chambers. The sun was setting in the distance, casting long shadows everywhere the eye could see, and despite it being evening, it was still rather hot.

Arthur wiped the sweat off his forehead with a tired sigh. He was just returning from a training session and was looking forward to a quiet evening in his chambers, preferably in a bath that Merlin was hopefully preparing for him already.

He turned away from the window and finally approached the door to his rooms when – he heard Merlin's voice, yelling something. He frowned and listened behind the door – it wasn't just Merlin, it was someone else too!

"__Please, just stop running!"__

Running? Now, what on earth-

Arthur opened the door abruptly and was greeted by quite a sight - Merlin was standing there in the middle of the room, nervous as hell, sweating, looking at Arthur with fear in his eyes, trying to simultaneously look like everything was perfectly fine, which – obviously – nothing was, and a little white dragon was sitting there on the floor, partly hidden behind his legs and partly looking at Arthur with big curious eyes.

Arthur blinked.

"__Arthur!" __the dragon shrieked and jumped from behind Merlin's legs right up at Arthur, climbing up his body in barely a second and settling around his neck, very uncomfortably moving around, never staying still.

"Oh, hey Arthur," Merlin grinned. Arthur just stood there, frozen. "So this is Aithusa, the dragon I told you about. She just learned how to talk!"

Aithusa shrieked something again and used Arthur's head to bounce off of it, suddenly leaping into the air and flying above their heads.

"And fly!" Merlin added. A nervous laugh followed.

Arthur stared at the little dragon and at his incompetent servant, and finally started moving again. The first thing he did – he quickly turned around, shutting the door behind him.

"Merlin!" he hissed. "What on __earth __is happening here?!"

Merlin immediately lost his grin. "I'm sorry! I was in the woods with her earlier and I didn't realize she was following me!"

"Sometimes, Merlin, I seriously wonder how on earth were you even able to lie to me about your magic for so long without getting yourself executed the minute you walked into Camelot. It's like you attract all problems in the kingdom!"

"__Arthur!"__

They both looked up to see that Aithusa was now flying all over the room, getting dangerously close to the windows. Arthur immediately ran to close the one closest to him, while Merlin closed the remaining ones with magic.

"__Arthur! Arthur!"__

"Aithusa, come down, please! We need to go back to the woods!"

Arthur looked at the scene in front of him and instinctively pinched his nose. And to think that he could actually have a quiet evening for once . . . He never would have thought that being a king would involve looking after his servant's dragon's well-being.

"__Arthur!"__

The dragon wasn't paying any attention to Merlin whatsoever, flying above the bed, the fireplace, landing on one of the wardrobes and then jumping into the air again, repeating Arthur's name.

This was ridiculous. Why couldn't Arthur get a break for once?

"Merlin, you're a dragonlord," he said, "can't you just make her be quiet?"

Merlin turned to him with desperation written all over his face. "Funny that you ask, I haven't tried that at all!" he answered. Arthur didn't appreciate the tone. But before he could say that, Merlin added, "No, I can't, she's just a baby, she doesn't listen to me."

What a marvellous thing then, a baby dragon.

Finally, Arthur gave up and went to help Merlin out. "Aithusa, please, come down here!" he repeated what Merlin was saying, but obviously, him saying that didn't help either. Aithusa made a sound that suspiciously resembled a laugh and then flew right past their heads, landing on the bed. As soon as they got close enough, she leapt into the air again and escaped.

"__Arthur! Arthur! Arthur!"__

Arthur frowned. She seemed strangely fascinated with him.

"Why does she keep saying my name?"

"Oh, she just repeats words she heard me say."

Arthur smirked at this. "Do you talk about me this often, Merlin?"

Merlin blushed at that, quite to Arthur's surprise, and quickly turned away from him, calling Aithusa again. But the little dragon completely ignored them.

"__Arthur!" __Aithusa shrieked again. This was getting rather repetitive. "__Arthur! Face! Pretty!"__

Arthur's eyes widened and Merlin gulped loudly, almost choking. Arthur turned to look at him, the corners of his lips slowly turning upward, while Merlin just croaked, "Aithusa!" with his face all red.

Arthur just kept staring at him, very amused. "She just repeats words she heard you say, huh?"

If it was even possible, Merlin's face turned even redder. "Aithusa? I'm gonna count to three!"

"__Arthur! Pretty!"__

Merlin swallowed. "She's obviously just putting random words together now."

Yeah, sure. Like Arthur was gonna believe __that. __"Oh, really? And when did you say the words __Arthur, face __and __pretty __today? Was it in one sentence?"

Merlin turned to him. "Would you just __please __help me get her out of here?"

Arthur pursed his lips, but finally let it go and started chasing Aithusa around the room again. He didn't think the little dragon would understand what __I'll count to three __meant, but if she was so excited about Arthur, maybe there was one thing that would help.

Arthur stopped chasing her and stood still, right under Aithusa in the air. "Aithusa? Would you like to be patted?" He smiled up at her. Aithusa shrieked something and stopped flying around in circles, hesitating. Arthur prepared his arms for her and added, "come on, I know you'll like it!"

Finally, the little dragon dropped a little lower, and then settled into Arthur's arms, letting her wings rest for a while. "__Arthur!" __she said, her eyes bright. Arthur smiled and started caressing her wings, patting her, just like he promised.

Merlin stared at him.

"Did you know this would work the entire time?"

Arthur just shrugged at him, his smile widening.

Merlin shook his head in disbelief. "Well, now we've got to get her out of Camelot somehow."

"We ought to take her through the secret tunnels, they lead into the woods behind the gates."

They took one of Arthur's old spare blankets from the wardrobe and gently threw it over Aithusa's body in Arthur's arms – only her head peeked out. Thankfully, she didn't try to fly away again – she must have tired herself out from all the flying even before she ended up in Camelot. Once they opened the door, the dangerous journey out of the castle began.

Arthur had to admit that Merlin's magic was a lot of help, but he couldn't leave him all the credit. He carried Aithusa (who wasn't as light as he had thought) all the way from his chambers into the forest until they reached a clearing.

And sure enough, a huge dragon was there, already waiting for them. Thank god it was already dark outside.

"Kilgharrah," Merlin called the dragon as he approached him. Although Arthur had already met the giant dragon, he stayed in the back. Of course he wasn't afraid, no, but he didn't think the dragon was very fond of him and he didn't want to risk anything.

"I see you have found the white dragon, young warlock."

"Yeah, she followed me into Camelot. I thought I told you to watch over her."

Kilgharah narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, noticing Aithusa in Arthur's arms. Aithusa flew out from Arthur's grip, throwing the blanket over Arthur's face in the process and landed on the grass.

"The young do not always do as they are told," Kilgharrah replied.

Aithusa jumped up onto Merlin's shoulder. "__Arthur!"__

Kilgharrah laughed. "I see she has already met the young Pendragon."

Arthur swallowed and took a step forward. "She has."

"Alright," Merlin sighed. He patted Aithusa's head and looked at her sternly. "You need to stay with Kilgharrah now, okay? It's not safe for you in Camelot, but you'll be safe with him. Promise?"

Arthur wasn't sure how much such a little dragon could understand him, but it appeared as if she nodded at him. Hopefully, that would work.

A moment later, Kilgharrah was already spreading his wings and little Aithusa was spreading her own. They took off from the forest ground, Aithusa shrieking something that sounded similar to "__bye bye," __and in the next moment, they were both gone, clouded in darkness.

Arthur was the first to look down, and he cleared his throat loudly. Merlin tore his gaze away from the sky and looked at him, a smile on his face.

With a sigh, they both turned away, Arthur taking the blanket, and they started walking back to Camelot.

"Thanks for the help," Merlin said.

Arthur couldn't help it, he just couldn't. He said, "thanks for thinking my face is pretty."

Merlin forced a laugh, very awkwardly, and punched Arthur's arm lightly, possibly even playfully. But Arthur didn't get to find out as Merlin sped up and walked in front of him, probably hiding his embarrassment.

Arthur sighed and pursed his lips. He just couldn't leave Merlin like that.

He caught up to him and took a hold of his forearm, stopping him. Merlin frowned at him slightly. Arthur sighed again and slowly let his hand slide down Merlin's arm until he reached his hand, entwining their fingers.

Merlin stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Just so that you know, I think your face is pretty, too." Arthur finally said.

Merlin laughed and Arthur's smile grew bigger and just as they started leaning closer, finally closing the gap that's always been there between them-

"__Arthur!"__

Aithusa landed on Arthur's back, sending them all tumbling down.

Arthur groaned.

Merlin laughed.

Aithusa shrieked both of their names and also her own, very excitedly, wanting to share her new learned words. And Arthur, still lying there with Aithusa hopping on his chest, realized that __this __evening might have probably been better than just a quiet bath.

**THE END**

Thank you for reading/listening! :)


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